Uber is accused of ignoring warning signs about an attempted murderer who signed up as a driver and then allegedly attacked a passenger before raping another.
A lawsuit filed in Kansas City, Missouri, US, claims Yahkhahnahn Ammi sexually assaulted a customer in January this year after beating up another woman just weeks before …

Interesting.

"Press TV has conducted a interview with Yahkhahnahn Ammi, a human rights activist based in Saint Louis ... to discuss police brutality in the United States and the recent mysterious deaths in American jails."

Re: Interesting.

It could be the same person, and he could be both an activist and convicted of attempted murder. Maybe prison changed him, maybe there is more to the story of his conviction, or maybe the 'activist' thing is just a ruse to find vulnerable people.

@Adam 52 - yep. I expect any public-facing business collects complaints against employees[1], and has no way (unless it be sheer volume) to distinguish the ones with substance from the malicious or frivolous. And would be on the wrong end of an industrial tribunal if it took action against an employee on that basis without at least supporting evidence from the powers of law enforcement.

taxi Regulation

Here in Victoria Texas, the cities regulate the taxis. This included a yearly application process wherein you submit your police record and fingerprints and the chief of police either alloys or disallows each application.

Uber doesn't want this background check to be performed, especially if fingerprints are required, and has recently gotten the state legislature to change it so the state oversees taxi regulation. Suspiciously absent from this new rule is any mention of REAL background checks for driver applicants.

@Adam52

Uber is responsible for performing necessary and required background checks on its drivers.

Even cab companies have to perform background checks, including fingerprinting of potential drivers.

(This will vary state by state.)

The fact that Uber didn't means that they are liable. They will settle before this goes to trial.

There is no way Uber will be held harmless and while they will fight it... if there's a police report, hospital reports and the story checks out... e.g. the drive signed up under an assumed alias to hide his identity and his criminal past... Uber is going to be paying out a settlement in the high 6 to 7 figure range.

And would be on the wrong end of an industrial tribunal if it took action against an employee on that basis without at least supporting evidence from the powers of law enforcement.

Except that this is in America where you can basically be fired for any/no reason. And furthermore, given that its drivers are all supposedly "independent contractors", Uber doesn't even have to tell them they're "fired" - they can just shutdown their login and that's that.

Adma52 wrote "Much as I dislike Uber, surely driver licensing is the responsibility of local government not an app developer?"

That is one of the big things about Uber - They refuse to work with the local government, insisting that the drivers are not taxi drivers who need licensing but are self employed people and that they look after the vetting of them.

I say we nuke the company from orbit

It's the only way to be sure. The company culture is far too ingrained at this point to ever be cleaned up. They might push a lot of it back into the shadows so it's less overt, but real change? I wouldn't take that bet.

Fired At Will

Are we the only country that expects people to actually do the job they are hired for or else? I know the Frenchies have some ridiculous entitlements (still baffled by the riots several years ago when people were upset about having to work more than 30 hours a week or whatever). Is this common in the euro zone or?